Rod rack



July 5, 192.7.

R. M. TIBBETTS ROD RACK Filed May 5. 19 24 4 Sheetsa-Sheet l N mm w V171. HQ Q N NI IIIII Q 4 VM 9///////////////////////////r//////////fi !M I 7 Patented ul 5, 1921.

' UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE.

ROBERT M. TIBBETTS, OF LONG- BEACE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR, BY DIBECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS OF SEVENTY-TWO AND ONE-HALF PER CENT '10 WILLARD L. BURROUGE AND TWENTY-SEVEN AND ONE HALF PER CENT TO DAVID (3-. LOB- RAINE, BOTHDII' LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

ROD RACK.

Application filed Kay 5, 19%. Serial No. 711,165.

My invention relates to rod racks and consistsof the novel features herein shown, described and claimed.

A leading object is to make a rod rack to be used in an oil well derrickand provide means for handling the sucker rods as they are removed from or inserted into the oil well.

Another object is to make a rod rack having means for placing the rods in the rack or removing the rods from the rack.

Another object is to make a rod rack hav ing means for taking a sucker rod as it is released from an elevator and carrying the sucker rod to the rod rack and having a second means for taking the rod from the first means and carrying the rod into the rack and releasing the rod to be supported by the rack.

Another object is to provide a rod rack adapted to receive and support a plurality of sucker rods or the like and having means for taking the sucker rods one at a time from the rod rack into position to becoupled to make a line of sucker rods in a well.

Another object is to positively prevent transverse displacement of the sucker rods from position supported in the rod rack.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the drawings and specification.

The drawings illustrate the rod rack, the.

transferring means and the operation.

Fig. 1 is a top .plan view of a rod rack and transferring means constructed in ac- ,cordance with the invention, parts being broken away and shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a view of the rack partly in side elevation and partly in section.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 33 of Fig. 1 showing the primary lifter.

-Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the construction, parts being broken away and shown in section, and other parts shown in operation.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the secondary lifter, the parts being in relative position as when carrying a rod.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the secondary lifter.

Fi 6 is a View analogous to Fig. 5 and showing the parts in their relative positions when about to lift a rod or after setting a rod in the rack.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view on a reduced scale showing the primary lifter about to engage a sucker rod as the sucker rod isabout to be disconnected at the well top.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view upon a small scale showing an oil well derrick with speclal reference to the operation of removing the sucker rods from the derrick to my rod rack by the use of my transfer means,

or removing-the sucker rods from the rack to be connected to the well string and lowered into the well.

Th details of the supporting rod rack, the primary lifter and the secondary lifter, and the connections and operations shown 1n the drawings, are as follows: i

The supporting rod rack 1 is adapted to receive and support the sucker rods and the sucker rods are lifted and brought to the rod rack l by the primary lifter 2, and the sucker rods are carried into or brought out of, the rod racks by the secondary lifter 3.

The details of the supporting rod rack 1 are as follows:

A solid vertical back 4 and the solid vertical sides 5 and 6 form a main part of the frame. Across piece 7 connects the forward ends of the sides 5 and 6 on a line with the upper edges of the back l and sides 5 and 6. Vertical pillars 8, 9, and 10 extend downwardly from the front cross-piece 7, thereby forming openings 11, 12, 13 and 14 through the front of the frame. Supporting beams 15, 16 and 17 connect the back 4 to the pillars 8, 9 and 10. A bottom flan e18 extends inwardly from the lower edge 0% the side 5. Flanges 19 and 20 extend in opposite directions from Y the bottom of the beam 15.

the bottoms of the openings 11; 12, 13 and 14.

and to hold the sucker rods from easily slidin one way or the other in the slots.

dges 34 and 35 extend forwardly from the vertical plane of the cross piece 7 on a level with the flanges 18, 19, 20, 21. 22, 23, 24 and 25, and slots 36 are formed between the ledges in line with and forming inlets to the slots 26, 27, 28 and 29. Corner posts 37, 38, 39 and 40 extend upwardly from the corners of the frame and the upper ends of the posts are connected by rails 41, 42, 43 and 44. Pivot blocks 45, 46, 47 and 48 extend upwardl in line with the posts 37, 38, 39 and 40. able end blocks 49 are connected to the blocks 45, 46, 47 and 48 by pivots 50 and the cables 51 extend upwardly from the blocks 49 and are attached to any suitable supports in the derrick 52, so as to mount the supporting rod rack as near as practicable to the top of the derrick so that the sections 33 of sucker rods may be as long as racticable to clear the casing head otches 54 and are formed in the upper faces of the back 4 and the cross piece 7, each pair of notches being directly above the slots 26, 27, 28 and 29 and the upper faces of the back and cross piece being reasonably well finished, straight and on a horizontal level with each other. A lifter supporting rod 56 is adapted to rest in the notches 54' and and to be moved sidewise from one pair of notches to another. Heads 57 and 58 are rigidly mounted upon the outer ends of the rod 56 and fit loosely against the outer faces of the back 4 and cross piece 7 to hold the rod. from endwise movement. Retainin bars 59 and 60 are mounted above the ro 56 to form tracks 61 and 62 in which the ends of the rod 56 travel, so that the rod cannot get out of the tracks and fall when moving the rod from one set of notches to the other or at any other time. A hook 63 is secured to the front end face of each ledge 34 by an eye bolt 64 and engages an eye bolt 65 to close the slots 36 and prevent the sucker rod sections from going into the wrong slot and to prevent the possibility of a sucker rod section being moved out of the slot accidentally.

Vertically alined ears 66 and 67 are formed upon or ri idl secured to the post 40, and a bearing bloc cars 66 and 67 and is journaled on a vertical pivot pin 69. A sweep arm 70 is rigidly connected to the bearing block 68 so as to swing in a horizontal plane. The primary lifter 2 is mounted to run back and forth on the sweep arm 70. A second pair of vertically alined ears ,71 and 72 is formed upon the post 40 or rigidly secured thereto, and a bearin block 73 is mounted between the ears 71 an; 72 and secured in place by a pivot in 74 in vertical alinement with the pin 69. illy rods 75 and 76 are secured to the hearing block 73 and spaced apart and extend 68 fits between the through a head 77 mounted upon the free end of the sweep 70 and have nuts 78 and 79 upon their outer ends against the head 70 for adjusting the tension ofthe guy rods 7 5 and 76 and holding the sweep 70 level. The sweep 70 is of considerable length and is adapted to swing the primary lifter 2 from the front face of the cross piece 7 outwardly to any desired extent and the primar lifter 2 is adapted to run back and for-t1 upon the sweep 70 to carry a sucker rod 33 to the front end of any one of the slots 26. 27, 28 and 29.

The details of the primary lifter 2 are as follows:

A grooved wheel 90 is adapted to run upon the sweep 70. Hangers 91 and 92 are mounted upon the ends of a spindle 93 upon which the wheel 90 runs. A crank shaft 94 forms aspindle for the winding drum 95,

said winding drum fitting between the lower ends of the hangers 91 and 92 and the spindle extending through the lower ends of the hangers. A hand wheel 96 is mounted upon one end of the spindle 94 and carries an operating hand crank 97. The opposite end of the spindle 94- from the hand wheel 96 has a squared portion 98. A locking member 99 has a squared hole 100 to fit the squared portion 98 and the locking member is connected to the hanger 91 by a hinge construction 101, so that when the locking member 99 is moved downwardly and inwardly with the squared portion 98 extending through the squared hole 100 the spindle cannotbe rotated, and so that when the locking member 99 is moved outwardly as in Fig. 3, the spindle 94 will rotate freely.

A cable 102 is secured at its upper end 103 to the winding drum 95 and the cable 1." wound upon the drum to any desired extent and then the spindle locked, thereby adjusting the efi'ective length of the cable 102 and holding the cable as adjusted. The cable end fittin 104 is secured to the lower end of the cable 102 and a swivel pin 105 extends from the lower of the fitting 104 through the center of the cross piece of a bifurcated bearing 106 and has a head 107 to prevent withdrawal and allow the bearing 106 to swivel relative to the cable head 104. A link 108 is connected to the bifurcated bearing member 106 by a pivot pin 109. A hand lever 110 has a bifurcated end forming forks 111 and 112 and the link 108 fits between the forks 111 and 112 and is secured by a pivot pin 113. Links 114 and 115 are secured to the extreme ends of the forks 111 and 112 by pivot ins 116 and 117 and the lower ends of the inks 114 and 115 are secured to a swivel head 118 by a pivot pin 119. The swivel pin 120 extends from the swivel head 118 through the hook head 121 as required to form a swivel connection between the hook head 11 and the hand lever rack 1 and the sweep 70, and t lifter 2 may be operated to be in vertical support the suc er rod string.

The primary lifter 2 is then manipulated n e-eases mechanism 110, and so on. L .The hook head 121 extends at right angles from the hook bar 122 and the hook pron s 123 and 124 extend at right angles from t e lower end of receive the neck 127 of a sucker rod coupling member 32 and engage and hold the shoulder 31 and lift a sucker rod section 33 as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

When the sucker rod sections 33 are to be transferred into or out of the rack, the primary lifter fork comprising the prongs 123 and 124 always enga es under the lower shoulder 31 of the coup ing member 32.

Referring to Fig. 1, the casing head 53 is some distance in front of the supporting rod e primary alinement with the casing head. Assuming that the upper end of the sucker rod string is above the casing head 53 and held by the sucker rod clamp 128, then the derrick cable 129 carrying the elevator'130 is lowered and the elevator 130 connected to the lower sucker rod coupling member 32' to engage the upper shoulder 131 of the coupling memberand the cable is operated to support the sucker rod string, the clamp 128 is released, and the cable 129 again operated to raise the rucker rod string to the desired height. Then the clam 128 is operated to again by an operator 132 standing upon a platform 135 mounted in the derrick,52, to engage the shoulder 31 of the upper sucker rod section of the string, and the lever 110 is moved downwardly to the extreme position shown in Fig. 2, thereby passing the links 114 and 115 past the ivot 113 far enough so that the weight 100 s the lifter, and the handle may be'released. The elevator 130. is then disconnected, so that itmay be immediately relowered to engage the next lower section of the string of sucker rod, without waiting until the section of rod engaged by lifter 2 has been stored in the rod rack. Wrenches 134 and 135 are operated to disconnect the sucker rod section engaged by the primary lifter, and then the sweep and the primary lifter 2 are operated to bring said sucker rod section into the desired one of the slots 36, the shoulder 31 passing above the ledges 34 and 35 and there being inclined projections 136 and 137 to guidp the shoulder 31 into the slot as the primary lifter is operated by throwing the handle 110 upwardly and then the primal; lifter 2 is disconnected from the sucker ro section and the sucker rod section is supported by the rack. The projections 136 and 137 serve to prevent the sucker rod from being moved outwardly and dropped, while the secondary lifter 3 is being operated to engage the sucler rod and move it further into the rac The details as follows:

A grooved wheel 145 is adapted to run on the rod 56. A U-sha ed hanger 146 straddles the wheel 145 an is mounted upon the spindle 147 of the wheel. An inverted U- s aped bearing member 148 is swiveled to the hanger 146 by a swivel in construction 149. A link 150 is connecte to the bearing member 148 by a pivot 151. A handle 152 has forks 153 and 154 to'straddle the link 150 and the forks 153 and 154 are pivotally connected-to the lower end of the link by a pin 155, said pin 155 being some distance from the ends of the forks. Links 156 and 157 are pivotally connected tothe ends of the forks 153 and 154 by pins 158-and 159, and the links 156 and 157 are rigidly con nected near theirlower ends by spacers 160, and pins 161 inserted through the links and through the spacers. The extreme lower ends of the links 156 and 157 are bent at of the secondary lifter 3-are right angles to form the prongs 162 and 163 and the upwardly rojecting points 164 and 165, the space 166 between the prongs being adapted to receive the neck 167 of the coupling member 32 and the prongs being close enough together toengage the upper shoulder 131 on the coupling member 32.

When the sucker rod has been laced initially in the rack by the primary lifter 2, the

secondary lifter 3 is operated to the forward end of the rod 56 and the prongs 162 and 163 pass straddle of the neck 167 and the handle 152 is pressed downwardly until the pivots 158 and 159 pass the vertical line of the pivot 155, and the secondary lifter is locked and the sucker rod is lifted so that the secondary lifter may be moved backwardly upon the rod 56' to any desired extent. Then the handle 152 is raised and the sucker rod settles in its seat 30. When one of the slots 26, 27, 28 and 29 is filled with sucker rod sections to the desired extent, the secondary lifter 3 is operated along with the rod 56 to move over the beam 15, 16 or 1? to work sucker rod sections into the next s 0t.

Of course, if the operation is that of removing the sucker rod sections from the rack, the operations are correspondingly reversed. i

Thus 1: have produced a supportingrack mechanism for sucker rods comprising a rack adapted to be mounted at the top of an oil well derrick and having slots to receive the sucker rods and support the sucker rods, and a primary lifter for taking a sucker rod section from the derrick elevator and placing the sucker rod section initially in the rack, and a secondary lifter for taking the sucker rod section from. the initial positions and placing the sucker rod section in storage positions, the mechanism being also adapted for taking the sucker rods out of storage positions to the initial positions and taking the sucker rods from the initial positions to positions to be coupled to the oil Well sucker rod string.

Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. A rod rack construction comprising a supporting rack adapted to receive sucker rod sections from a derrick elevator, and means independent of the derrick elevator for moving the sucker rod sections from the derrick elevator into the rack.

52. A rod rack construction comprising a supporting 'ack adapted to receive sucker rod sections from a derrick elevator. means independent of the derrick elevator for taking the rod sections therefrom and introducing the sections initially into the supporting rack, and means for moving the rod sections from said initial position to storage position in the rack.

1-3. A rod rack, construction comprising a supporting rack adapted to be mounted in the upper part of an oil well derrick and having slots into which the sucker rod sections may be introduced and supported, a primary lifter mounted to travel from the plane of a casing head to the mouths of the slots and adapted to take a sucker rod section from the derrick elevator and place the sucker rod section initially in a desired slot, and means for moving the sucker rod section from said initial position to storage position in the slot.

4'. A rod rack construction comprising a supporting rack adapted to receive and support sucker rod sections, a sweep mounted upon the supporting rack, and a primary lifter mounted to travel upon the sweep and to be carried by the sweep and adapted to move out and take a sucker rod section from the derrick elevator and move in and deposit the sucker rod section initially into the rack.

5. A rod rack construction comprising a supporting rack adapted to receive and support sucker rod sections, a sweep mounted upon the supporting rack, a primary lifter mounted to travel upon the sweep and to be carried by the sweep and adapted to move out and take a sucker rod section from the derrick elevator and move in and deposit the sucker rod section initially into the rack, and a secondary lifter mounted to travel in the rack and adapted to move the sucker rod sections from the initial position to storage position in the rack.

6. A rod rack construction comprising a supporting rack having parallel slots adapted to receive and support sucker rod sections, a rod mounted in the rack frame and adapted to be moved from above one slot to above another slot, a. secondary lifter mounted to travel on the rod, a sweep mounted upon the rack frame, a primary lifter mounted to travel upon the sweep and to be carried by the sweep, the primary lifter serving to take sucker rod sections from a derrick elevator and to transfer the sections to the mouths of the slots, and the secondary lifter being adapted to carry the sucker rod sections into the slots to storage positions.

7. A rod rack construction comprising a supporting rack adapted to be mounted in an oil well derrick and support sucker rod sections, and a litter in the well derrick adapted for vertical travel relative to the rack and adapted to take sucker rod sections from the derrick elevator and place said rod sections in the rack.

8. A rod rack construction comprising a rack adapted to support sucker rod sections, a track, and a lifter movable along said track and adapted to engage the rod sections in the rack and elevate the, same and relower said sectionsmt desired storage points in the rack.

S). A rod rack construction comprisin a rack having slots adapted to receive sue er rod sections from a derrick elevator and support the same, and means independent of the derrick elevator adapted to be moved from above one slot to above another slot and carry the sucker rod sections along the respective slots.

10. A rod rack construction comprising a rack having slots adapted to receive sucker rod sections from a derrick elevator and support said rod sections, and means independent of the derrick elevator adapted to take sucker rod sections therefrom and be moved to the mouth of any one of said slots.

11. A rod rack construction comprising a rack adapted to support sections of sucker rod, and means for engaging said rod sections and carrying the same to said rack including a lever adapted to elevate the rod sections and lock the same in elevated position.

12. A rod rack construction comprising a rack adapted to receive sections of sucker rod from a derrick elevator and support the same, and means for taking said rod sections from the derrick elevator to the rack including mechanism for elevating the rod sections and locking the same in elevated position.

13. A rod rack construction comprising a storage rack an enga ing member having a recess open at one si e, and a supporting arm for said member extending upwardly therefrom so that said member is adapted to be shifted laterally for receiving a sucker v rod in said recess with the collar of said rod messes resting upon the wall of the recess, said engaging member being adapted to carry the sucker rod to the storage rack.

14. A rod rack construction comprising a storage rack, an engaging member having a squared recess open at one side, a supporting arm for said member extending upward- 1y therefrom so that said member is adapted to be shifted laterally for receiving the squared portion of the coupling of a sucker rod in said recess with the collar of said coupling resting upon the wall of the recess, suspension means for said supporting arm whereby the engaging member is adapted to carry the sucker rod to the storage rack, and a connection between said suspension means and said supporting arm permitting relative rotation of said parts.

15. A rod reek construction comprising a supporting rack for receivingrod sections from a derrick elevator, and means carried by the rack for moving the rod sections from a derrickelevator to the rack 16. In combination with a derrick and derrick elevator, a rod rack mounted end supported on the derrick for receiving rod sections from the elevator, and means for moving the rod sections from the elevator into the rack.

17. In combination with a derrick and derrick elevator, a rod rack mounted on the derrick for receiving and supporting rod sections in vertical position, and means for moving rod sections laterally from the elevator into the rack.

18. A rod rack construction comprising a supporting rack adapted to be mounted in a well derrick to support sucker rod sections, a sweep in the derrick, and means for engaginn sucker rod sect-ions, said engaging means being; mounted on the sweep and adapted to take hoisted sucker rod sections from a derrick elevator and be moved by the sweep to position for depositing the hoisted rod sec-.

tions in the rack.

In testimony whereoi I have signed my name to this specification.

ROBERT M, TEBBETTS. 

